Greetings, faithful readers! It’s been far too long since my last update. Since I last posted, I have joined the SCA and moved to Texas (these two things are not related).

In any case, I owe y’all updates. I somehow got roped into preparing an entire medieval meal for my family for New Year’s Day. We went from, “We should each propose a new food to try,” to “Why don’t you make a medieval feast for us?”

So, I cheated. I’ll admit it. I made three things in one day so I could write them all up at once and not have to worry about the site until after the bar exam. I also knew I was going to a Superbowl “The Big Game” get-together, so I wanted to make a few things that could be shared. Otherwise, I end up either eating all of it or wasting it.

This week’s dish is… brie tartlets (mini-tarts). This one was a home run – absolutely delicious and everyone gobbled them up. I only got to try one!

The Process

I use pre-made phyllo dough, as I did not have the time or energy to make my own. You can either make one large tart or two dozen tartlets. I recommend buying frozen mini-crusts — almost every grocery store carries them and they save you loads of time and effort.

My honey of choice for this project had crystalized, so I had to take an extra step of putting it in a pot of hot water (set over low-medium heat) and letting it get back to normal without boiling it.

I picked up some nice brie from the local market. I opted for a very creamy one and made sure to get double what the recipe seemed to call for, as the rind was going to be removed and would probably count a lot towards the weight. Worst case scenario meant I’d have spare brie to eat (oh no).

They did have a 60 (slightly less creamy) brie from a monastery that claimed to have not changed their recipe since the 1500s. I was sorely tempted, but it cost three times as much as the modern brie. My wallet couldn’t afford to be quite that authentic.

I put all the ingredients in the blender, including a tiny pinch of saffron. Saffron is wildly expensive but why own it if you’re not going to use it? With great saffron comes great responsibility.

As you can see, I used my very authentic medieval food processor.

Tartlet shells! I was going to a small party and only planned to take a dozen. I didn’t want to have leftovers.

The instructions said only to fill them halfway. That was a gross overestimate. It should have been one-third or even one-quarter, as I actually used up all my mixture (I should have had about half left, since this was supposed to make two dozen tartlets).

Oh dear gods, they weren’t kidding when they said they’d puff up. They really puffed up! I think if you used a turkey baster to carefully fill them, it might be best. Or perhaps a tablespoon measure. Really, though, you don’t want to overfill.

They were, however, delicious. They were gobbled up by the half-dozen people at the party and I only got to try one. It was very tasty! Fluffy and creamy – there was no doubt that there was brie in there. I couldn’t taste the eggs at all and the pinch of saffron was perfect.

Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Mix cheese, eggs, and seasonings (including sugar, if you’ve opted for the sugar) in a blender or food processor. If doing it by hand, add beaten eggs to well-mashed cheese. Continue blending/beating until the mixture is light and smooth. Pour into shell(s) – do not overfill! Bake 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned. The mix will puff up a lot. They may fall a bit when you take them out of the oven. Best served warm, although everyone agreed they were fine at room temperature, too.

As a side note, you can make this gluten-free with GF pastry. There is no good way to make this vegan, though.

So, I have never been a big fan of soup. Being a vegetarian – even as a kid – meant my soup options were extremely limited. I was also picky and didn’t like tomatoes, which further limited my choices. I’m still not hugely keen on soups aside from this one onion-cheddar-potato soup I made a few years ago and has become my staple soup for winter.

I included soups in the poll, though, because part of the experience here is trying new things and being open to the possibility that maybe a medieval soup would actually be right up my alley.

The runner-up in last week’s poll was onion soup, so that’s what I made this week.

So, one of the things I am going to do is take a vote every week or two to see what I should prepare next. This way, I know I’m creating content that people want to read about. This week’s food vote will remain open until 23:59 (11:59 PM) EST tonight, January 2nd, 2015.

Well, many projects tend to be born and die off straightaway. I’m afraid this blog fell into that category, but I never forgot about it.

Since the last update, I have graduated law school, taken a bar exam, and moved to a different part of the country. I am now studying for another bar exam. I will be doing limited updates during bar prep, of course, but I am definitely returning to Medieval Vegetarian. It will not be so much a focus on creating a modern medieval diet as just simply recreating medieval dishes. I’m aiming for one blog post a week, whether it’s a recipe or research I’ve done.

So, I’ve revamped the site. I’m working to integrate tumblr into my posts so they can be more easily shared.